From the document EP 1 022 549 A1 is known in the art a method, wherein a liquid containing microparticles or nanoparticles is irradiated with light being coherent in time and space, for instance generated with a laser, at a multitude of discrete wavelengths, wherein back-scattered radiation is detected, and wherein intensity fluctuations of the scattered radiation at each of the irradiated wavelengths are determined. This is a variant of the dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) or Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (PCS) method, where by using different wavelengths, measurements with different scattering angles for the purpose of the compensation for multiple-scattering effects, inter alia, are not needed. By this method, by measurement of the time dependences of the fluctuations and autocorrelation of the resulting function, a determination of the particle size distribution or of particle sizes can be performed. Further, in this document, devices for carrying-out the method are described in detail. These devices basically comprise a defined number (2 or more) of lasers with different emission wavelengths (in the visible light up to the near IR), the light of which is conducted to the sample by, for instance, optical conductors. Back-scattered light is simultaneously collected by means of optical conductors, detected and evaluated.
From the document WO 02/081502 A2 is known in the art a method for optimizing crystallization tests in the context of high-throughput crystallization tests, wherein a solution of a gel-forming component containing biomolecules of a biomolecule species is reacted with another substance promoting the crystallization by means of an automatic device for delivery of the substance. Thereby, a multitude of solutions that are disposed for instance as a multitude of drops on a plate, can be subjected with high throughput to crystallization tests.
For crystallization tests on biomolecules, for instance in order to produce crystals for the purpose of the x-ray structure analysis, it is necessary to check the crystallization process, and in addition, biomolecule crystals have to be distinguished from salt crystals that may also be possibly generated. In practice, this takes place, for instance, by observing the solution containing a biomolecule species by means of simple optical methods, for instance by using a microscope. With respect to the regularly existing difficulty to crystallize biomolecules or to provide suitable crystallization conditions, often a multitude of crystallization tests are required. The prior crystallization methods, also the above high-throughput methods, include as a substantial time-critical step the detection of successful crystallization, since the observation by an operator is expensive and further comes along with a relatively high fault probability.